Edward Pickering Parker was born on November 4, 1912 in Salem, Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. He was the son of Foster Hegeman Parker, secretary-treasurer of Parker Brothers, and Anna Merrill, and grandnephew of George Parker, founder of Parker Brothers. As a child he was fascinated with board games, inventing some of his own, making up new rules for existing ones, and testing others.
Edward Pickering Parker graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy in 1930 and received a Bachelor of Arts, cum laude from Harvard in 1934.
Edward Pickering Packer was with Parker Brothers from 1934 until his death. George Parker had been encouraged to sell The Game of Banking, a board game he had invented at the age of sixteen, but finding no buyer, he published it himself. It sold well, and he developed other games. In 1888, with his older brother, Charles, he founded Parker Brothers. In 1898, the oldest brother, Edward H. , joined the firm, which was incorporated in 1901. Other games followed, including Pit, Rook, Sorry! , and tiddlywinks, they bought the American rights to Ping-Pong and mah-jongg. George Parker, who lived until 1952, had been an imaginative sales agent but lacked good executive skills. By 1932, when his son-in-law, Robert Barton, entered the firm, the company's revenues had dropped by half. In 1935, a year after Edward Parker's arrival, the company bought the rights to Monopoly, having rejected similar games earlier. It was an instant hit with the public.
He served with the U. S. Navy during World War II, commanding antisubmarine vessels in the Pacific, for which he received two Bronze Stars and seven battle stars. He rose to the rank of retired captain in the Naval Reserve. The family company continued to do well, but with the rise of television, Parker and his family were concerned that the future might be bleak, a possible dramatic drop in the interest in board games. The company had long relied on conservative management methods and old-fashioned ways of marketing. It was criticized for not immediately capitalizing on television advertising and for staying away too long from discount stores. In the 1960's, General Mills was in the midst of diversification. In 1966, it initiated discussions with Parker Brothers to buy the company. Both Barton and Parker put it off. General Mills then went to Parker Brothers' major rival, Milton Bradley, which also declined the offer. On October 1967, the Parker family said it would sell the firm for $47. 5 million, and General Mills agreed to the price. The papers were signed on February 1968. Edward Parker was executive vice-president of Parker Brothers until later in 1968, when he succeeded Barton as president.
In 1961, he served as president of the Toy Manufacturers of America. Although General Mills vowed that it did not intend to tamper with Parker Brothers' spirit, it did, in effect, assume managerial and financial control. The company had for years relied on its old but still popular products. Testing board games was difficult, and the new owner moved more into toys. The Nerf ball, introduced in 1970, sold over four million in its first year. In 1972, the commissioner of public works of Atlantic City proposed changing the names of two streets that appeared in the game Monopoly, Mediterranean and Baltic Avenues, because their names changed along their routes. A sizable public outcry ensued, particularly since Monopoly's Mediterranean and Baltic were at the low end of the economic spectrum and were the least expensive properties.
On January 1973, the year he became chairman of Parker Brothers, Edward Parker wrote to the responsible officials in Atlantic City. If Atlantic City changed the street names, Parker Brothers would not change the names on the Monopoly board. He also pointed out that Monopoly's Marvin Gardens was a misspelling of the city's Marven Gardens, but that he would not change that spelling either, noting that such changes might "possibly shake the very foundations of American tradition. " And as for Marvin Gardens, "Perhaps the real Marven Gardens should consider changing its spelling. " Atlantic City did not pursue the issue. Parker Brothers always regarded itself as a publishing company rather than a producer of games or toys. When Parker died on January 1, 1974 in Salem, Massachussets, the company had sold more than seventy million sets of Monopoly.
Edward Pickering Parker had substantial business acumen. He was quite likable, garrulous, and possessed magnetism.
On April 9 1938, Edward Pickering Parker married Natalie Stevens. They had three children.
